Together
by Laree
Summary: Mitsui and Rukawa team together to get back their exboyfriends who have started to go out with each other. HanaKo, MitRu or RuMit, depending how you look at it...
1. Default Chapter

  


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Laree's Slam Dunk Fanfiction

Together   
Part One 

" I must be the most pathetic person in the world for doing this..." Mitsui Hisashi muttered absently to himself as his eyes darted around the hallway one more time to check for any people that might be wandering around. It wouldn't do for The One and Only Love of His Life to find out that he had been lurking around. Especially not since said One and Only Love of His Life had recently acquired a very temperamental, very tall and very well built boyfriend. But he had to do this. He had to smell his Min-kun's scent one last time before he could let go of him...Once again, the fleeting thought that he was finally going crazy, planning on breaking into an apartment just to sniff some old laundry of his Min-kun's, ran through his mind but he pushed these thoughts away stubbornly. Some might say that he was obsessed with the soft-spoken, bespectacled young man. He preferred to think of himself as...Well, extremely devoted. 

With this thought, Mitsui walked over to the door of apartment number 924 as casually as he possibly could. He stood before the door for a moment, trying to calm himself. Dear God, he was about to break into his Min-kun's apartment! It wasn't the thought that he was doing something against the law that scared him, It was the fact that he was about to step into the home that The One and Only Love of His Life shared with his new boyfriend. He tried the door knob and to his immense surprise, it turned easily in his hands. He stared at it uncomprehendingly before raising his eyes heavenwards and uttering a short prayer of thanks. Well, it wasn't as though he was breaking in now, was it? The door had been open when he had tried it...There was no breaking in involved. It was though Min-kun himself had invited him into the apartment. But Min-kun was always so manically obsessed with making sure that the apartment door was locked so it must be that stupid redhead's fault! " Why that idiot! How could he just leave the door open like this?" He muttered angrily. " What if some maniac comes in at the middle of the night, finds the door open, goes in and does something bad to _my_ Min-kun?" 

Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and stepped into the apartment, wondering why the hell the lights were all all open. He looked around him at the new home of his ex-boyfriend. Well, at least there was one good thing to be said for that Sakuragi Hanamichi. He obviously had money. A whole lot of it, in fact. His eyes wandered around the richly furnished apartment, eventually zoning in on a cluster of framed photographs on a table. He was drawn to them unconsciously. There was one of Sakuragi and Kogure, dressed in tuxedos, obviously in some sort of formal event, one of Sakuragi pushing Kogure on the swing, one of the two of them standing before a large Christmas Tree wearing identical Santa hats. "Kawaii..." He sighed as he picked up a solo picture of Kogure holding a tiny pug puppy up towards the camera. Looking around guiltily, as though he expected somebody to jump out at at any second and demand to know what he was doing in here, Mitsui turned the silver picture frame around and proceeded to ease the photo out of it. Just a little remembrance of his Kimi-kun...It wasn't as though anyone would miss it anyways. There were lots of other solo picture of Kogure around the apartment, as he had gathered from the quick look over that he had given it. It was as though the whole damn place was a shrine to the great Min-kun. 

" What are you doing here?" 

Mitsui yelped involuntarily at the sound of the very much unexpected voice. He had seen Kogure and Hanamichi coming out of the apartment building with his very own eyes. Was it possible that they had returned already? He was going to jail. Oh, God. He was going to jail...Taking deep breaths, he turned around only to come face to face with..." Rukawa?" 

" Yeah." Rukawa nodded towards the photograph frame that Mitsui still held in his hands. " You planning on taking that?" 

" Wha? No! No! Of course not!" Mitsui snapped, setting the frame back down to the table with a loud thud. " What the hell do you think I am? Some sort of burglar or something?" 

" People who break into homes usually are." Rukawa pointed out, raising an eyebrow at Mitsui's obvious nervousness. 

" I...I was just taking the picture..." Mitsui explained lamely, holding out the photo for proof. " That's all. I wasn't stealing anything. Just...Well, just this picture." 

" Kogure, huh?" 

" Yeah..." Mitsui's eyes narrowed suddenly when he realized that Rukawa had just about as much right as he did to be inside the Sakuragi-Kogure apartment. " Wait a second! What about you!? You're not supposed to be here either, are you?" 

" You catch on real fast, don't you, Mitsui?" 

" You're still the same old SOB that you were five years ago, you know that, Rukawa?" But Rukawa had already walked away from him, wandering around the apartment as though he had every right to be there. Mitsui followed him persistently, insisting that he be told Rukawa's reasons for being there. 

Finally, Rukawa turned around to face him. " Hanamichi." 

" What, you still out to get Sakuragi, are you?" 

" Yes. But not the way that you're thinking." Rukawa pushed the door to the master bedroom open and swiftly scanned the room with his cold blue eyes, looking for the perfect place to hide the tiny video camera that he held in one hand. " I want him back, Mitsui." 

" You want him back? Since when did you and Hanamichi get together Ru..." Mitsui's words trailed of as he watched the younger, dark haired boy attaching the camera to one corner of the ceiling. " Hey. What's that?" 

" A camera." 

" What're you putting it there for?" 

" So that I can see what those two get up to..." 

" You pervert!" Mitsui exclaimed suddenly, shocked at this. Since when did Rukawa become like that hentai Sendo? He darted over to where the boy was busy installing his camera. " I will not let you get your cheap thrills from my Min-kun you bloody hentai!" He declared, grunting with the effort as he attempted to pull Rukawa off the chair that he had been standing on. 

" Idiot!" Rukawa fumed, letting out a well aimed kick towards Mitsui's stomach. " I'm not planning on video taping their love sessions though I guess that's pretty unavoidable. I just want to see what goes on between the two of them. See what they talk about and things like that..." 

Scowling and still winded, Mitsui finally let go of Rukawa and allowed him to proceed with his business. "Why would you do that?" 

" Because I, Mitsui-san, am going to break those two up." 

Mitsui looked at him stupidly. " Why?" 

Rukawa shook his head. " Amazing..." He commented. 

" Huh?" 

" I never thought I'd see the day when I'd meet someone denser than my Hana-kun." Rukawa explained,   
" Now I believe I have..." 

" I was just asking!" 

" Think about it, Mitsui-san. Hana-kun and Kogure, messy break up." Rukawa then jabbed a finger to his chest and then to Mitsui's own. " Rukawa and Mitsui, the first people that they run to for comfort. Do you get that now?" 

Understanding dawned on Mitsui. " Oh, yeah!" 

Rolling his eyes at the hopelessness of the older boy, Rukawa walked over to the phone on the bedside table and began to fiddle around with it, Mitsui watching his actions avidly. 

" Hey, Rukawa. Where did you get all these spying stuff from, anyways?" 

" They were just lying around the house..." 

" Well, what did you use them for then?" Mitsui asked curiously. It couldn't be normal having all these things just lying around the house after all...His eyes fell on a familiar blue shirt lying on the floor. He pounced on it and pressed it against his face, breathing in deeply. His Min-kun's shirt! 

" I set them up around the apartment that I used to share with Hanamichi. Just to make sure that he wasn't fooling around with anybody. I also put them up in Sendo's place, that bloody pervert, always chasing after Hana-kun, Koshino's, Jin's, Maki's, Kiyota's, Yohei's..." The list went on and on. Suddenly, Rukawa scowled. " Too bad I didn't put any up at Kogure's old place though...I never expected him to be the one to take my Hana-kun away..." 

" A little possessive, aren't we?" Mitsui commented with a smirk. 

" A little obsessive, aren't we?" Rukawa retorted, gesturing to the shirt that Mitsui still had pressed against his face. " Hey, I'm not the one trying to inhale a sweaty old shirt..." 

" Min-kun doesn't sweat...Min-kun is-" 

" Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Min-kun is perfect." Rukawa finished for him with a scowl. " I've done what I've come to do. I'll leave now so that you can do whatever you want to do with your precious Min-kun's shirt." 

" Hey, Rukawa. Wait!" Mitsui grabbed hold of the younger boy's arm before he could walk off. "You really mean all that stuff about breaking those two up?" 

" Would I be doing all of this if I didn't?" 

" No...I guess not." 

Rukawa stood there, a silent battle going on within himself. There was one side that told him that he could always use more help in this and Mitsui seemed to be the perfect ally. It must have been fate that had brought them together at this place in time. And then there was another side that insisted that he, Rukawa Kaede, the loner, preferred to work alone. Finally, he came to a decision. " You want in?" He asked quietly. 

" Yeah, I want in." Mitsui didn't even hesitate. " I most definitely want in..."   


  


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	2. Part Two

  


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Laree's Slam Dunk Fanfiction

Together   
Part Two 

" Did you really have to bring that along with you too?" Rukawa demanded, his eyes narrowing as he spotted the blue shirt still tightly clutched in Mitsui's hands. The older boy had spent the whole time that they were walking to the tiny diner that they were in now alternately staring at the picture that he had 'borrowed' from the apartment and pressing his nose against the shirt of the ' One and Only Love of His Life', who Rukawa, from his great power of deduction, took to be none other than Kogure Kiminobu. 

Mitsui took no notice of the obvious scorn on his companion's tone of voice. " This was Kimi-kun's favorite shirt to sleep in." He told him, as though this was the most marvelous, most important piece of information that Rukawa would ever receive in his life. As if he even cared. " He always wore this when he went to bed. He washed it everyday and-" 

The dark haired boy, not about to sit there listening to the love struck fool going on and on about some stupid shirt for the whole night, decided to state the obvious. " If that's his favorite shirt, don't you think he'd notice that it's missing?" 

There was silence. Then a loud, " K'so!" 

" Yeah. Didn't bother to think about that, did you?" Rukawa muttered, bringing his coffee mug up to his lips. " Do'aho." 

" Well I'm sorry, Oh High and Mighty, Ever Knowledgeable Kitsune!" Mitsui said sarcastically, " But please, take into consideration the fact that this is my first time breaking into somebody's home like that! Not like _you_, whose been making it a habit to set up surveillance cameras in the houses of all the guys that you think may be making moves on your then boyfriend." 

" What's more pathetic? Me just trying to make sure that nothing will happen to my Hana-kun or you and your sick fixation with that stupid piece of clothing?" 

" To tell you the truth," Mitsui grinned sheepishly. " I think both of us are really, really pathetic." 

" _Incredibly_ pathetic..." Rukawa agreed. " But nobody ever has to know about all the stuff that we've been up to except for us, right?" 

" Right." 

Rukawa sighed inwardly in relief. Mitsui's cooperation in this matter was a good thing since there was quite a great chance that his activities may have been considered illegal... 

" You must have found out a lot of interesting things about all the guys what with those cameras, huh?" Mitsui commented. He was dying to hear all the dirt about their former colleagues. And Rukawa must know a whole lot. 

" Oh, yeah." 

" Such as...?" Mitsui prompted. 

" Maki, Kiyota and Jin. Together." Rukawa revealed. He had always had a malicious streak, but this was the first time that he had shown this particular side of his personality to Mitsui. His eyes gleamed as he went on, " Sendo and his little drawer full of sex toys for him and his Koshi-kun to enjoy. Fujima and his obsession with an ex-Shohuku player..." 

" Oh, yeah? Who?" 

Rukawa smirked. " You." He answered. " He has a little shrine for the Three Pointer God, the perfect example of masculinity, as he likes to put it." 

" Fujima Kenji, huh?" Mitsui murmured thoughtfully, recalling immediately the very pretty face of the Shoyo captain and his soft, floppy brown hair, so much like his Min-kun's. " He was really cute! But I never even really spoke to that guy!" 

" Hence the fact that he still considers you ' The Perfect Example of Masculinity..." 

Mitsui chose to ignore this. After all, though he had quite a temper himself, he was not as easily baited as Hanamichi was. " So, what stuff do you know 'bout Hanamichi and Kogure then?" 

" I know for a fact that their relationship isn't quite as perfect as it seems." 

The scarred faced boy's eyebrow shot up at this. From what he had seen, those two seemed to be the perfect example of two people very, very deeply in love. " What do you mean by that?" 

" They're too different, Mitsui. We can use that against them." 

" That's stupid, Rukawa. Opposites attract, remember?" Mitsui pointed out. He had thought that he was finally making progress on his quest of gaining his Min-kun's love once more when he had paired up with Rukawa. But if this was all that he had planned, then he was no better off than he had been before. 

" That's what's stupid, Mitsui. People need to have some sort of common ground for things to be able to work out and as far as I can see, Kogure and Hana-kun don't." Rukawa explained. " I've been watching them very closely. They can be really sweet with each other, but most of the time, they fight. They fight over the smallest things." 

" Min-kun and I used to fight too..." 

" But not as much as these two do." Rukawa insisted. He knew that he could use this knowledge somehow and he had already developed a perfect plan. He just needed Mitsui's complete cooperation. "They fight over the kind of food that they eat. Kogure likes traditional Japanese food, not too much meat. Prefers fish and vegetables. Hanamichi prefers western food, lots of steaks and burgers. They fight over the movies that they want to watch. Kogure goes for those cheesy romantic comedies, Hana goes for ones with lots of gore. Hana complains that Kogure is always too serious for his own good, Kogure says that Hanamichi is too immature and should be acting his own age." 

Mitsui shrugged. " Perfectly normal lovers quarrels." 

" Right now, maybe. But once I get through with them..." A small, chilling smile formed on Rukawa's face. " Then it will all be over for them. I just need your help in this..." 

" What do you want me to do then?" The older boy asked. He guessed that he might as well go along with whatever Rukawa wanted him to do since he had no ideas himself. It was much better than doing nothing at all. 

" Tell me, Mitsui. Are you averse to public displays of affection?" 

" Me? Well...Not really..." He paused to consider this. He and Kogure had always been demonstrative with with their affections for each other but never in a really lewd way. After all, his Min-kun was such a goody goody. One of the many, many things that he had thought was so cute about him. 

" I used to be. That was one of the reasons that Hanamichi found it so hard to stay with me. Because I never liked that sort of thing." Rukawa told him, " But since it's for a good cause, I'm willing to suffer through it." 

" What do you mean?" 

" You and me, Mitsui. We'll show them what a perfect couple is like." Rukawa explained patiently, drawing a small notebook out from his back pocket. " We'll show them just how unsuitable they are for each other in comparison to us..." 

Mitsui tipped his head questioningly to one side, not really sure that he had gotten what Rukawa had said right. " Are you saying that you want us to act like a couple?" 

" Not just any couple." Rukawa corrected him. " The _perfect_ couple. The pair that never fights, always disgustingly sweet with each other. That sort of couple. We'll make them so dissatisfied with the kind of relationship that they have now, so incredibly insecure, so sure that they're too different to be able to stay together that they break up." He sat back on the booth, a small, satisfied smile on his lips. He may not be good with emotions and everything but if there was one thing that he knew a lot about, it was psychological warfare. Hence the fact that he had been able to handle Hanamichi for as long as he had done. 

" Oh. So what do I have to do, then?" Mitsui still didn't really get it but it sounded like a good plan. A bit more complicated than he would have liked, but a good plan nonetheless. 

" Just follow my lead, Mitsui." Rukawa flipped through the notebook, a small frown of concentration on his face. " Okay. Tomorrow's a Friday, right? The two of them go and do their grocery shopping at that market place round about six o'clock. We're going to be there. Okay? We just happen to bump into the two and we invite them to go out to dinner with us. How does that sound to you?" 

" Okay I guess, Rukawa." 

" It's Kae-chan." 

" Huh? Why?" 

" 'Cos we're supposed to be together now, remember?" 

" Oh, yeah. Kae-chan it is, then." It felt sort of weird, finally calling the person he had always just thought of as either the Kitsune or Rukawa by his given name. Thinking back to the time that he and Rukawa had spent together in the Shohuku basketball team, he suddenly realized that the dark haired boy had spoken more in this one night than he had in the whole two years that they had been in the same team.   


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	3. Part Three

  


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Laree's Slam Dunk Fanfiction

Together   
Part Three 

" Who died and declared _you_ seme, Rukawa?" Mitsui muttered irritably under his breath as he tried in vain to wriggle out from underneath Rukawa's arm, which the younger boy had draped around his shoulder as Mitsui proceeded to push the shopping trolley along the aisles of the grocery store, trying to appear as though having the guy all over him was a normal, every day occurrence for him. 

" Shut up and just be still." Rukawa declared shortly, not feeling the need to grace this ridiculously stupid question with an answer. _Him_ a _uke_? He snorted. 

" No. I demand to know your reason about why _you_ should be the seme in this pretend relationship?" Mitsui persisted, not willing to let the topic go. " I'm sick and tired of just being pushed around by you all the time!" 

" Get used to it. I run the show. Remember?" 

" But how come you get to be the seme?" 

Knowing that he would get no peace until he had at least given the guy some sort of answer, no matter how ridiculous, Rukawa replied. " Because I'm taller than you. That's why." 

" And what the hell does _that_ have to do with anything?" Mitsui fumed, glaring up at Rukawa. " You know what, I'm not going to take this crap from you anymore. I've had enough of you. Get your stupid arm off me. From now on, _I'm_ the seme around here!" 

" Stop being so stupid, Mitsui. As if it even matters..." 

" If you don't think it matters, then why won't you just let me be the seme then? Like I want." Mitsui demanded, finally succeeding in ducking out from under Rukawa's arm. 

" Because I don't want to." The younger boy replied simply, as though this was all the reason that he would ever need. 

" Then I'm not doing this." 

Rukawa's eyebrow shot up. " What?" 

" I'm not doing this until I get to be the seme." Mitsui declared, crossing his arms over his chest. " I've never been a uke in my life, and I'm not about to start now. Especially not with you." 

The fox eyed boy scowled at this. But the guy seemed to be serious about not going through with it if he didn't get what he wanted. And he really needed Mitsui. " Fine. Just shut up about it already, will you?" He growled, allowing a self satisfied Mitsui to drape a heavy arm around his shoulder as he grumbled all the while.   


~**~ 

Kogure Kiminobu whistled tunelessly under his breath as he waited for his boyfriend to come back from his search for a particular brand of cereal that he liked. It had been a good day for the two of them. Hanamichi had been incredibly sweet the whole day, giving him breakfast in bed, taking him out for lunch even though Kogure knew that he had a busy schedule, even picking him up after work and taking him out to buy some new clothes, since he had seen how upset he had gotten when he had been unable to find his favorite blue shirt... Now they were out doing their weekly grocery shopping, as they had done at the same time and same place ever since the two of them had moved in together. That had been around six months ago and Kogure couldn't remember ever being happier than he was now. Everything in life was going well. 

His family had more or less come to accept his red haired lover, as they had never been able to Mitsui, having been bowled over by Hanamichi's charm. He was doing very well in his job as an accountant for for a successful business and had basically been told outright by his boss that he could expect a promotion soon. Plus, he had it on good authority, that being Sendo Akira, that Hanamichi had been out shopping around for some wedding bands lately. Yup. Life was definitely going well for him. He couldn't ever remember feeling so contented. 

Sighing happily, he leaned his slim frame against the shopping trolley, grinning stupidly at nothing in particular as he idly ran his hand through his brown hair, going over this wonderful, wonderful thing that was his life, when his attention was attracted by a loud conversation coming from behind him. 

" Will you stop scowling at me, dammit?" 

" I'm not, do'aho." 

" Then why the hell is your face like that?" 

" It's always like this, do'aho." 

" Bastard! Don't call me a do'aho!" 

A strange sense of de ja vu assailed Kogure as he recalled another couple from a long time ago, his College days, to be exact, who used to talk to each other like that. He grinned. This would be a funny thing to tell Hana-kun about later on. He hated it when Kogure teased him about his past relationship with the ' Kitsune '. Still smiling, he turned around, wanting to see what the couple looked like... 

Both young men were dark haired, both of above average height both extremely handsome and both disturbingly familiar to Kogure... 

" Look, Mitsui. Let's just get this over with, okay. Let's just go look for them and then we'll go and-" 

" Rukawa?" Kogure interrupted hesitantly as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.   
" Rukawa Kaede? Is that you?"   


~**~ 

Rukawa froze when he heard his name being called out. He turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on the guy that he and Mitsui had spent the last few minute looking around for. For one, crazy moment, he was suffused with the sudden urge to grab the nearest canned foodstuff from the shelves and hurl it at the smiling boy's face, but he somehow managed to push this impulse back. Instead, he nodded woodenly in acknowledgment. Realizing that Mitsui hadn't even moved by his side yet, Rukawa turned to him to see what was up. He scowled, seeing the love struck puppy dog look that had developed on his companion's face at the sight of his beloved. The idiot was messing everything up. Deciding that he had to take things into his own hands, Rukawa grabbed Mitsui's arm and set it comfortably around his shoulders. He patted Mitsui's hand. " Sashi-kun. Look. It's Kogure-san."   


~**~ 

_Sashi-kun_? Was the first thought that ran through Kogure's mind. Why the hell was Rukawa calling Mitsui Sashi-kun? Then the fact that Mitsui also had his arm around Rukawa registered in his brain. Are they...? Could it be...? He pushed away these thoughts, a genuine warm smile on his face. After all, though he and Mitsui had parted ways some time ago, they had gone as friends and he had been genuinely sorry that they hadn't remained in touch afterwards. " Mitsui-san! Rukawa-san! It's been a long time, my friends." 

Rukawa discreetly dug his elbow into Mitsui's ribs just to get some sort of reaction from him. " Er...Min- I mean, Kogure-san!" The scarred faced boy smiled weakly at him, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. His love was so close...So close... All he had to do was to stretch out one hand and he would be able to touch him...Unconciously, he reached out to do just that but Rukawa grabbed his arm suddenly in a vise like grip. 

" You are ruining everything." Rukawa snarled as Kogure went on and on about how time had gone by so fast and how sad it was that they had fallen out of touch with each other. 

Mitsui just sighed dreamily in reply, focusing only on his Min-kun's face. 

" Hey Kimi-kun...I found those noodles that you wanted. Anything else that you need 'cos if not, then we're just about ready to-" Hanamichi appeared suddenly from behind them, his arms full of groceries. His words trailed off when he noticed the people who were with his Kimi-kun. 

He blinked. He closed his eyes and shook his head, refusing to believe what his eyes told him that he was seeing. He rubbed his eyes with his fist. Then he opened his eyes again and still he found himself looking into familiar, cold blue eyes. Fox eyes, he used to call them. He gulped. " Kitsune?" 

" Sakuragi-san." Rukawa could barely control his voice. He hadn't spoken to his Hana-kun for such a long time. He wanted to just open his mouth right then and there and beg him to leave that Kogure to be with him but it wasn't the moment for that. He and Mitsui had to stick to the plan after all. " It's been a long time..."   


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